Thanks to thousands of Star readers, staff and volunteers who raised more than $1.6 million, some 45,000 kids are receiving gifts this Christmas.

Two large gift boxes have arrived at the door, wrapped in colourful elves and reindeer paper.

Santa has not forgotten them.

Their grateful mother, a recently arrived Russian immigrant, wants to offer something in return because giving is as joyful as receiving and old European hospitality demands that kind of exchange, for politesse and pride.

Wait, she says to the volunteer who’s brought her 6-year-old grandson in tow to make this delivery.

The mom glances around her modest apartment, where no tree stands trimmed and twinkly. There must be something in her home to seize upon as a present. She disappears into the kitchen, is heard rummaging, and returns moments later -- with two bananas.

“Here.’’

You give what you can and you accept what you need.

These are the moments to melt your heart.

And this city’s heart opened, as it has every year for more than a century, to the Yule spirit of the Star’s Santa Claus Fund.

That’s the gift you’ve given to yourself, Toronto: Making the lives of children – and their thankful parents too -- just a bit brighter with “The Boxes’’.

No youngster should be without at Christmas. Because of your bounty, dear Star readers, the goal of $1.6 million in donations has been reached and surpassed. In the GTA, 45,000 disadvantaged children will have at least one present to rip open. Feel gladdened. T’is the true meaning of the season – putting a smile on a kid’s face, spreading cheer, the kinship of humanity -- and maybe never more necessary as antidote to cruelty than this year, just a week removed from the monstrosity visited upon a small town in New England that has lost so many of its precious little ones to mass murder.

Our Christmas story begins with a young boy and the gift of kindness.

Joseph Atkinson was his name.

One of eight children raised by a widowed mother who took in boarders to help make ends meet but there was never enough money for the small luxuries of life.

There came a winter’s day, in the middle of the 19th century, when young Joe was watching other kids gliding and twirling on a frozen pond in Newcastle, Ontario. The forlorn boy attracted the attention of a lady passing by. She stopped to ask: Why not join in the fun?

“I don’t have skates,’’ said Joe.

The woman left yet came back shortly afterwards, or so the legend goes. Joe was still there. She presented the youngster with a brand new pair of skates.

He never knew her name.

But he never forgot.

The social conscience of the boy who grew up to become the Star’s founding publisher was awakened in that moment. From that sweet, anonymous act of charity -- a stranger’s compassion -- has flowed more than a century of benevolence in the cornucopia of the Santa Fund.

Rarely during its 107 years of operation has the Santa Fund needed to extend its deadline past Dec. 25 to meet the goal. This year, the grand tally was reached and bumped nicely beyond on Friday: $1,640,616 in donations pledged, received and tabulated.

“I’m thrilled with how Toronto Star readers have responded to this year’s campaign, which is all about making thousands of small children in our community feel better, even if only for a single day,’’ says publisher John Cruickshank, Atkinson’s successor at the paper’s helm.

“The Santa Fund gifts these children receive may seem small to some people, but in many cases they are the only presents these children will get over the holidays. To see the joy on their faces when they open their gift boxes is to know that all of the generosity of our readers and all of the work of our volunteers is truly appreciated.’’

It is not a luxury. It is, sadly, a need.

In the year the Santa Fund was launched, the charity of readers reached out to 180 children in Toronto. In 2012, the numbers and catchment area has expanded hugely – 22,000 households receiving Christmas boxes.

“Our Star readers come through for us, year after year,’’ marvels Barb Mrozek, the Star’s director of charities and philanthropy, and Elf-in-Chief. “I think there’s a greater awareness of the people who are in need.’’

The Star works in conjunction with some 135 social agencies and community groups to identify those who should receive Santa Boxes, with applications submitted startlingly early this year. “We hit our max at the end of November,’’ explains Mrozek. “I’m wondering what has happened this year? Post-recession, I’m assuming people’s well have dried up. If they lost their jobs in the recession, maybe they had a savings account and were still drawing upon that. They realized Christmas was coming and they wouldn’t be able to make ends meet. They stepped forward faster.

“That gives me a bit of a scare about what’s happening out there in the community. A lot of us, who are employed, if we do lose our jobs, how far away are we from needing a helping hand?

“I think Joseph Atkinson would be really proud to know that we’ve continued this tradition. But I don’t think he’d be happy to know it’s gone from 180 kids to 45,000.’’

We’re no longer the cozy city of yesteryear and Atkinson – Old Joe – would likely not recognize us today. Toronto has become bigger, taller, unimaginably wealthier, its urban affluence measured not only in dollars but in opportunities and enticements. Amidst the plenty, however, so also have the ranks of the empty-handed multiplied; the destitute and the working poor.

Those kids are just as deserving and have been just as good, or maybe a tiny bit bad, but nothing to write Santa about.

It’s unknowable – because there were no computers in those long ago years – how many children the Star has “gifted’’ over the decades but “way more’’ than half-a-million. Funds are raised through office parties, raffles, corporate donations, church groups and the traditional Star Christmas Carol Concert, but more than 50 per cent comes from personal, individual donations.

To make the whole endeavour work, the Star relies on hundreds of volunteers from newspaper staff to Boy Scout troops to scores of citizens who were recipients in their own childhood and now want to help give back. Staff do the sorting and packing at the main warehouse, from which a fleet of trucks then transport the goods to depots across five cities the Santa Fund services, whereupon volunteers take the boxes to houses and apartments. Three attempts are made at every designated address.

Each box – with age appropriate contents for kids, infants to 12 years old, gender-neutral – includes: a warm shirt, hat, mittens, socks, a book, a small toy, tooth brush and tooth paste and candy.

The final shipment went out Friday. Any boxes left over will go to shelters.

Says Cruickshank: “On behalf of the employees at the Star, I want to thank the readers, the community and the volunteers for helping make the Santa Fund a huge success this year.

So, that’s a wrap.

Now unwrap, kids.

About the Santa Claus Fund

The Toronto Star Santa Claus Fund is a children’s charity that provides gifts for underprivileged children at Christmas.